SYDNEY - Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has insisted that justice will prevail in the case of a young Australian woman facing the death penalty over the smuggling of drugs to the resort island of Bali.
Schapelle Corby, whose trial will continue Wednesday, was found with 4.1 kilograms (nine pounds) of marijuana in her unlocked boogie board bag when she arrived at Denpasar airport last October. The 27-year-old Gold Coast woman faces death by firing squad if convicted of drug trafficking. Corby has denied any knowledge of how the drugs go into her luggage.
| It would be pretty stupid to carry MJ around in an unlocked bag, but mules have been known to do stupid things ... |
The case has attracted much media attention in Australia, prompting the government to arrange the transfer of a prisoner to the Bali courtroom to give evidence that Corby was unwittingly ensnared in a domestic drug trafficking network involving corrupt airport baggage handlers.
Yudhoyono, on an official visit here that has highlighted warming ties between Australia and Indonesia, said he was keeping an eye on the Corby trial, although he expressed confidence in the court. "I will watch (the Corby case) closely to make sure that justice is there, because justice is important to be upheld and everybody, including the people of Australia and the people of Indonesia, will watch that kind of fairness and justice," he said in an interview with Australian newspapers published Wednesday.
"As a president, I keep saying that while we have to respect the court in proceeding this case, that the decisions of the court must be just," he said. "They must be well-accepted by all sides and of course must be logical in terms of well understood and accepted," he said.
| That's pretty remarkable. |
The Australian newspaper called Yudhoyono's personal promise to monitor the Corby case "extraordinary" and a further sign of a remarkable turnaround in the once testy relationship between the neighbors. |
